Richard Salisbury Williamson (May 9, 1949 – December 8, 2013) was an American lawyer, diplomat and political advisor.

[1] Williamson was a partner at Winston & Strawn and was also Thomas J. Sharkey Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Seton Hall's Whitehead School of Diplomacy.

[5][6] Previously, he served in senior foreign policy positions under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, including as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, and an Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House.

[7] Williamson was active in a wide variety of civic organizations, serving on the board of directors of the International Republican Institute; the board of the Committee in Support of Russian Civil Society; a member of the advisory committee for the International Human Rights Center at DePaul University, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Williamson also was the Roberta Buffett Visiting Professor of International Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.